Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) is the only terrorist group which once possessed its own ‘Military’
– Tigers (infantry), Sea Tigers (sea wing) and Air Tigers (Air Wing),
in the world, began its armed campaign in Sri Lanka for a separate Tamil
homeland in 1983. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its January
10, 2008 report said that the LTTE is one of the most dangerous and
deadly extremist outfits in the world and the world should be concerned
about the outfit as they had ‘inspired’ networks worldwide, including
the al-Qaeda in Iraq.

However, with the killing of its Chief
Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 and its defeat it in Eelam War
IV the outfit has become inactive inside Sri Lanka, though reports indicate
that it still attempts to revive itself with the help of Tamil Diaspora.

The LTTE has been proscribed, designated
or banned as a terrorist group by a number of Governments - India, Malaysia,
USA, Canada, UK, Australia, European Union - where the LTTE has significant
terrorist infrastructure for disseminating propaganda, raising funds,
procuring and shipping supplies to support their terrorist campaign
in Sri Lanka. While India was the first country to ban LTTE in May,
1992, Sri Lanka itself is the latest in the list banning the organisation
on January 7, 2009.

Formation

The LTTE was formed on May 5, 1976,
under the leadership of Velupillai Prabhakaran, and has emerged as perhaps
the most lethal, well organised and disciplined terrorist force. Headquartered
in the Wanni region, Prabhakaran has established an extensive network
of checkpoints and informants to keep track of any outsiders who enter
the group's area of control.

Terrorism in Sri Lanka began in 1970
with the formation of a militant student body called the "Tamil Students
Movement" to protest government plans to limit access of Tamil students
to universities. Very soon this movement went underground and turned
to overt terrorist activities. Violence escalated in Jaffna from 1972
onwards, beginning with the publication of a new constitution seen by
the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) as anti-Tamil. The year 1972
saw the formation of two Tamil terrorist groups – the Tamil New Tigers
(TNT) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), splinter groups
of the original Tamil Students Movement. In July 1983, countrywide riots
and clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils left thousands of Tamils dead
and several hundred thousand as refugees. Large number of Government
forces were deployed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. This period
marks the beginning of the LTTE guerrilla campaign against the Sri Lankan
Government.

Objective

The LTTE aims to create a separate homeland
for the Tamils known as the Tamil Eelam (State) in the Northern and
Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. The Tigers control most of the areas
in the Northern Province but also conduct operations throughout the
island. They have recently been wiped out of the Eastern Province and
are losing considerable ground in the Northern Province.

Leadership, Command Structure and
Cadre

The LTTE leadership was organized along
a two-tier structure: a military wing and a subordinate political wing.
Overseeing both was a central governing committee, headed by the LTTE
chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran. This body had the responsibility for
directing and controlling several specific subdivisions, including,
an amphibious group (the Sea Tigers headed by Soosai), an airborne group
(the Air Tigers led by Prabhakaran’s Son Charles Anthony), an elite
fighting wing (known as the Charles Anthony Regiment, named after Anthony,
a close associate of Prabhakaran and was earlier headed by Balraj who
died of illness on May 20, 2008), a suicide commando unit (known as
the Black Tigers) & a highly secretive intelligence group both headed
by Pottu Amman and a political office headed by B. Nadesan. The central
governing committee also had an International Secretariat (headed by
Veerakathy Manivannam a.k.a. Castro), which was in charge of
the outfit’s global network. Most of these leaders, however, were killed
during the Eelam War IV.

Prabhakaran headed the LTTE power structure,
as chairman of its central governing committee and ‘commander-in-chief’
of its Army. He was assisted by B. Nadesan, his political advisor, and
his intelligence Chief Pottu Amman.

The LTTE cadre strength dwindled since
the Government’s onslaught in July 2006 and there was no specific information
about its cadre strength. On December 29, 2007, the Sri Lankan Army
Commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka had said that the LTTE is left with
only 3,000 cadres. The General then on January 11, 2008 speculated the
total cadre strength to be about 4,500. At its peak, the organisation
has cadre strength of about 18,000. On January 8, 2004, the then Sri
Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga alleged that the outfit increased
its military strength during the truce period by recruiting over 11,000
guerrillas. "The LTTE has increased its cadre by three times from around
seven thousand to over 18,000. Quite a few of them are small children
and forcible recruitment was going on," she said. Earlier on January
22, 2003, the Sri Lankan President's office indicated that the LTTE
had increased its fighting forces during the cease-fire period "by 10,000
cadres, most of whom were children." Citing intelligence sources, Presidential
spokesperson Harim Peiris said that the LTTE strength had increased
from "around 6,000 cadre'' before the February 2002 cease-fire agreement
"to 16,000'', and charged that "kidnapping for forcible recruitment''
was a major recruiting mode of the outfit. According to another estimate,
the LTTE's deployment increased from 9,390 before the cease-fire agreement
was signed to 16,240 towards the end of 2002.

All cadres were carefully indoctrinated
on the authorised position: they are fighting against an unresponsive
and discriminatory Sinhalese majority for a separate State – Eelam;
the cadres must banish all fear of death from their minds and be prepared
to lay down their lives fighting the Government forces, or consume the
cyanide pill fastened around their necks when capture is imminent. The
LTTE placed immense emphasis on the cult of martyrdom.

LTTE cadres were known for their high
sense of discipline, dedication, strong determination, a high degree
of motivation and innovation. Bulldozers were suitably adapted to function
as armoured vehicles. Men, women and children – both boys and girls
- comprised its cadres. A deliberate policy of recruiting women and
children into LTTE cadres was initiated after the signing of the Indian
Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) Accord in 1987, to offset a severe shortage
of manpower, because of ever increasing casualties and the escalation
of the conflict. Nearly one-third of the LTTE cadre comprised women,
who are assigned duties on the battlefield, in the kitchen, and in medical
camps as nurses. There were allegations of the LTTE abducting children
from areas under its controls to fill its dwindling ranks, and an estimated
1600 children were in LTTE rank.

All LTTE fighters underwent a programme
of rigorous training. A typical training schedule is spread over four
months, during which they receive training in handling weapons, battle
and field craft, communications, explosives and intelligence gathering,
as well as an exhausting physical regimen and rigorous indoctrination.

While the Vituthalai Pulikal Makalir
Munani (Women's Front of the Liberation Tigers headed by Col. Vithusha)
was formed in 1983, women began combat training in 1985. In October
1987, Prabhakaran set up the first training camp exclusively for women
in Jaffna for the second and successive batches. By 1989, this unit
secured its own leadership structure. This period reportedly witnessed
the highest recruitment of women as it was also the time when women
were the worst sufferers of the ethnic conflict.

Media reports also indicated that women
were being forced to join the LTTE, according to letters purportedly
recovered from slain woman militants in Sri Lanka. "Every LTTE cadre
is anxious to see his or her parents and I will come home for Pongal
(harvest festival – January 14) though I do not know what my fate will
be," said one letter recovered by Security Forces from a slain woman
militant. "Amma, what can I do? When all those at home in the area were
taken away, I too had to go with them (LTTE)," said another, which was
released by the Media Centre for National Security, according to Times
of India report on January 30. A report in the Chennai-based The
Hindu said on March 10, 2002, that nearly 4,000 women LTTE cadres
have been killed since they began taking part in combat from 1985, joining
the LTTE pantheon of over 17,000 "heroes" in the nearly two decade-old
conflict. Over 100 of the women killed belonged to the dreaded Black
Tiger suicide squad. Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated
on the night of May 21, 1991, during an election rally at Sriperumbudur
in Tamil Nadu by Dhanu, a woman suicide-bomber of the LTTE.

The women reportedly underwent the same
tough training as men, and like them, are broken up into fighting, intelligence
gathering, political and administrative units. In her book Women Fighters
of Liberation Tigers (1989), Adele Ann, the Australian-born wife of
Anton Balasingham, LTTE theoretician who died in December 2006, described
the decision by a Tamil woman to join the organisation as a message
to society "that they are not satisfied with the social status quo;
it means they are young women capable of defying authority; it means
they are women with independent thoughts; young women prepared to lift
up their heads." LTTE chief Prabhakaran, in an address to women cadres
on International Women's Day on March 8, 1996, had described the liberation
of the Tamil woman as "the fervent child" that was born out of the Tamil
"national liberation movement." Women in the LTTE were allegedly forced
to suppress their femininity and sexuality, which is regarded as a crime
and an evil force that could sap their strength. Marriage was not allowed
for women cadres up to the age of 25 and for men up to the age of 28.

Children featured prominently in the
LTTE's protracted guerilla and terrorist campaigns, and assessments
by the Sri Lankan Directorate of Military Intelligence have estimated
that as much as 60 per cent of the LTTE's fighters were below 18. Estimates
based on LTTE fighters who have been killed in combat reveal that 40
per cent of its fighting forces - including both males and females -
were between 9 and 18 years of age. The first recruitment of child soldiers
into LTTE ranks dates back over two decades, after the ethnic riots
of July 1983 resulted in a massive exodus of civilians to India. At
this stage, LTTE chief Prabhakaran selected Basheer Kaka, an LTTE leader
from the harbour city of Trincomalee, to establish a training base in
the State of Pondicherry in India for recruits under 16. Initially,
the child soldiers - affectionately referred to as 'Tiger cubs' - received
non-military training, mostly primary education and physical exercise.
By early 1984, the nucleus of the LTTE 'Baby Brigade' or 'Bakuts', was
formed.

Until 1986, the LTTE had sufficient
adult units in operation and young recruits were put through the Tigers'
standard grueling four-month training course as soon as they reached
16. Many children from the Pondicherry batch achieved battle prominence,
and several others served as bodyguards to Pottu Amman, the LTTE Chief
of Intelligence responsible, among a host of other operations, for planning
the assassination of two world leaders. The child fighters were originally
a part of the Baby Brigade commanded by Justin, a Pondicherry-trained
fighter. However, after 1987 the LTTE integrated children with other
units to offset heavy losses in combat. A study by a UK-based Sri Lankan
researcher Dushy Ranatunge revealed that at least 60 per cent of the
dead LTTE fighters were under 18 and were mostly girls and boys aged
10-16. Ranatunge also revealed that almost all of the casualties were
from Batticaloa, but after the escalation in the fighting following
the LTTE assaults on the Kilinochchi, Paranthan and Elephant Pass defences
on 1 February 1998, the dead have also included many from Jaffna.

A typical unit of children was trained
for four months in the jungle. Woken at 0500hrs they assembled, fell
in line, and their leader raised the LTTE flag. This was followed by
two hours of physical training, after which the recruits engaged in
weapons training, battle and field craft, and parade drill. During the
rest of the afternoon, time was spent both reading LTTE literature and
more physical training. Lectures on communications, explosives and intelligence
techniques continued into the evening. No contact was permitted between
the camp and the children's homes during the training period. Sleep
and food were regulated during training to build endurance. After 1990,
when children were pitched into battle against Sri Lankan forces, the
LTTE made training tougher. The military office of the LTTE headed by
Wedi Dinesh developed a training programme that would make the child
fighters even more daring than adults. This included the screening of
Rambo-style videos in which the daredevil approach is invariably successful.
The trained child fighters were also prepared for battle by attacking
unprotected or weakly defended border villages. Several hundred men,
women and children have been killed by LTTE child combatants armed with
automatic weapons guided by experienced fighters during such 'inoculation
attacks'.

Operational Strategies and External
Linkages

Apart from the military operations which
the LTTE conducted in the North-eastern parts of the country against
Government forces and the highly successful suicide killings operations
in other parts of the country, a major aspect of the LTTE’s operations
was its publicity, fund-raising and military procurement strategies.

The LTTE is still believed to have a
wide network of publicity and propaganda activities with offices and
cells located in at least 54 countries. The largest and most important
centres were located in leading western states with large Tamil expatriate
communities, most notably the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada
and Australia. In addition to these States, the LTTE is also known to
be represented in countries as far-flung as Cambodia, Burma, South Africa
and Botswana. It’s publicity networks covering Europe, Australia and
North America also included radio and TV satellites.

Apart from publicity, another important
aspect of LTTE’s strategy is fundraising. The majority of financial
support comes from six main areas, all of which contain large Tamil
Diasporas: Switzerland, Canada, Australia, the UK, the US, and the Scandinavian
countries. The LTTE has established a wide network of offices and cells
practically across the globe. They have secured a considerable degree
of visibility in the United Kingdom – the headquarters of its "International
Secretariat" – as well as in Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland,
Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and South Africa. These networks
of offices and cells carry out propaganda, organise the procurement
and movement of weapons and raise funds from the Tamil Diaspora.

There also have been reports that the
LTTE raises money through drug running, particularly heroin from Southeast
and Southwest Asia. The LTTE is in a particularly advantageous position
to traffic narcotics due to the highly efficient international network
it has developed to smuggle munitions around the world. Many of these
arms routes pass either directly through or very close to major drug
producing and transit centres, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia,
southern China, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Military and arms procurement played
a vital part in the LTTE’s battle against the Government sources. The
LTTE arms network was headed by Kumaran Pathmanathan colloquially known
as "KP." At the heart of the KP’s operations was a highly secretive
shipping network. The ships frequently visit Japan, Indonesia, Singapore,
South Africa, Burma, Turkey, France, Italy and Ukraine, scouting for
arms. In addition to setting up a number of lucrative businesses, the
LTTE established a state-of-the-art boatyard that manufactured a dozen
different boats, including a mini-submarine for debussing divers.

The LTTE had also set up a parallel
civil administration within its territory by establishing structures
such as a Police force, law courts, postal services, banks, administrative
offices, television and radio broadcasting station, etc. The most prominent
of the LTTE ‘state structure' is the ‘Tamil Eelam Judiciary’ and the
‘Tamil Eelam Police’. The ‘Tamil Eelam Police’, with its headquarters
at Kilinochchi was formed in year 1993, and reportedly has several wings,
including traffic, crime prevention, crime detection, information bureau,
administration and a special force. LTTE cadres collect taxes, its courts
administer their version of justice and the entire law and order machinery
is LTTE-controlled.

Areas of Operation

The LTTE engaged the Sri Lankan State
in three theatres: (1) in the northern theatre (Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar,
Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts) the LTTE employed high and mid-intensity
warfare. Since the mid-1990s, semi-conventional and unconventional (insurgent
and terrorist) methods were also being used. With the loss of the peninsula
in 1996, the LTTE reverted to unconventional warfare, mostly sparrow
tactics (hit and run methods). In the mainland, mostly in Wanni, the
LTTE engaged the Sri Lankan troops semi-conventionally. This become
possible after the LTTE acquired artillery and heavy mortars. (2) In
the eastern theatre (Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara Districts),
the LTTE employed high, mid and low intensity warfare. Dependent on
the LTTE force level, it engaged the troops semi-conventionally or unconventionally.
(3) In the Southern as well as Western theatre, LTTE’s operations were
largely focussed on the Colombo, the capital. By targeting financial
nerve centres and political and military leaders this diversionary tactic
of the LTTE had been highly effective. After steadily shifting the theatre
of terror into the seat of the country’s administration, LTTE elimination
of political and military leaders adversely affected the morale of the
Security Forces.

The Split

The LTTE, however, faced a vertical
split in the organisation when it’s Eastern ‘Commander’ ‘Colonel’ Vinayagamoorthy
Muralitharan aka Karuna Amman broke-away from the parent organisation
and formed his own group – a military wing known as Tamil National Front
and a Political wing called the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal
(TMVP) in alliance with the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front
(ENDLF) - in March 2004. Karuna later joined the Government. Karuna’s
deputy in TMVP, Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, now heads TMVP
and is also the Chief Monster of the Eastern Province.

The Defeat of LTTE

The LTTE, which, at one time, controlled
over 15,000 square kilometres or nearly one-fourth of the 65,332 square
kilometres territory of the island nation, was finally decimated with
the killing of Prabhakaran on May 18, 2009 and the Government officially
declaring the need of Eelam War IV on May 20.

Colombo is now pursuing several Governments
to dismantle three broad groups that are now assumed to be controlling
the remaining pro-LTTE international factions: the US group is said
to be headed by V. Rudrakumaran, the UK group by Aruththanthai Emmanuel
of the World Tamil Forum (WTF) and the Norway group by Nediyavan.